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Travis Pastrana may be broken, but he's ready for Rally America National Championship

February 20, 2014

After an unsuccessful run in NASCAR, Travis Pastrana is hoping to turn his career around in Rally America.

Travis Pastrana will be a broken man when he makes his long-awaited return to the Rally America National Championship in Missouri this weekend.

Pastrana, 30, broke his leg in two places and dislocated an ankle when a jump during his Nitro Circus tour in the USA last month went wrong. But that won't stop him from contesting Rally of the 100 Acre Wood this Friday in a Subaru Rally Team USA Impreza.

“I broke the two bones in my lower leg, but after getting a little extra hardware, they are solid,” Pastrana told rally-america.com. “The biggest problem is my ankle, which got dislocated. I'm not sure that I will be walking by the race but I have been given the green light to compete with a fairly stout brace. It's not ideal, but I've raced and won with worse.”

Pastrana, who made a full recovery after his spine became separated from his pelvis in a heavy fall during a freestyle motocross event as a 14-year-old, hasn't rallied since switching to NASCAR in 2011, a move hastened by a hefty crash on the Rally of the 100 Acre Wood of that year. He has recruited new co-driver Chrissie Beavis to partner with him for his Rally America return.

“Our main goal is to learn the car, the speed, and each other,” said Pastrana. “The new speeds of these Subarus will mean that I will have to do more than knock the rust off. I will have to improve if I want to keep up. The team is hoping that I can keep the car on the road, log the miles and be competitive by the end of the year. It won't be easy.”

Subaru teammate and defending Rally America champion David Higgins, and multiple event winner Ken Block will be Pastrana's main rivals this weekend.